Page 85 of One Night

“My brother JP. I think something bad is going to happen.” Duke tensed beside me, his feelings clearly at war with hearing me out and sending a warning to his family. “I tried to reason with him, but he totally ignored me, and then the assholehung up on me.”

“I’ll take care of it.” MJ zipped her coat and hurried out of the emergency room.

“Fuck them.” Duke’s words were steeped in anger. All this time he was careful not to talk shit about my family, but the man next to me looked as though he’d snapped. “You need to stand up for yourself.”

I blinked up at him and swallowed past the hurt the truth in that statement caused. “Itried.”

“Try harder.” Duke stood, dragging his hands through his hair and down his face. As he paced the room, his frustration bubbled and grew. “You let them walk all over you and treat you like shit. How can you be okay with that?”

Defensiveness and fury slammed into place as I lifted my chin. “Excuse me?”

Duke held his hands out. “Am I wrong?”

I blinked. “Well... no, but it’s none of your business.”

He scoffed. “None of—” Duke’s steps pounded on the linoleum. “None of my business? Are you fucking kidding me right now? Why can’t you just stand up for yourself?”

The urge to fold in on myself was intense. Ihatedbeing the target for Duke’s frustration, and past-me would have dipped into the shadows until the storm passed, but a small spark of defiance had been lit. That sizzling ember burned a hole through my gut and was ready to set my entire life ablaze if it had to.

I jostled myself to stand toe to toe with him. I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin to look him in the eyes.

“You can’t stand it, can you?” Duke’s dark brows furrowed, but I barreled on. “You’re so used to sayingjumpand watching everyone happily leap into the air.” I pointed to my chest. “Well, that’s not me. You want me to stand up for myself? Well here I am. I amnotjust another person for you to take care of. That’s not a partnership. Don’t you see that?”

“What’s wrong with wanting to take care of people?” Duke’s voice undoubtedly spilled into the hallway, but I was beyond caring.

My skin was hot, and the baby was doing somersaults against my rib cage. “We can’t live in a fantasy world forever. I won’t live on the farm, tucked away where you protect me from the rumors and whispers and dirty looks. Face it, you don’t treatanyonelike an equal, least of all me.”

Duke blinked as though my words were a slap across the face. The muscles in his jaw tightened as his fists flexed. “What do you want from me?”

My high-pitch scoff rang out into the small room. “I don’t want anythingfromyou. I want somethingwithyou! Why is that so hard to believe?”

Fleeting emotions flickered over his dark features as my words soaked in. His lips pressed into a thin line. I stared at his broad shoulders in disbelief as he turned his back, and left me alone in the hospital room.

THIRTY

DUKE

A quick textto MJ and I ensured Sylvie would have a safe ride home. I didn’t want MJ involved in the fight if things went south either. I hated leaving Sylvie in that small, sterile room, but her brothers were a ticking time bomb, and Sullivans were the target. I had to move fast.

You don’t treat anyone like an equal, least of all me.

The truth of Sylvie’s words had cut.

Deeply.

My gut reaction was to deny it, but deep down a small part of me knew she was right. Trouble was, she had no idea that I didn’t think of her as an equal because I never felt I could measure up toher. She was so much better than I could ever be.

I’d failed her. That much I knew to be true.

My whole life had become rows of people and things I needed to take care of—Dad, my siblings, the farm. Instead of Sylvie being a part of that line, she had stood next to me and propped me up. I wasn’t entirely sure of what to do with that information.

Sylvie deserved so much more than the scraps of attention her family reserved for her. It infuriated me to see them walk all over her and trample her well-meaning heart. Though I had watched a spark ignite inside her when I called her out on it.She’d also zeroed in and poked a long-standing bruise I’d tried my whole life to hide.

I considered it my duty, and an honor, really, to take care of the people I loved. But did I really disregard their feelings and forge ahead with whatever plan I deemed best?

My fingers squeezed the steering wheel until my knuckles went white.Fuck, she was probably right about that too.

My truck bumped along the quiet road on the way to the Kings’ fortress. Animosity and adrenaline coursed through me as my scattered thoughts attempted to derail me. I wouldn’t let them.

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